Concern about Algae in Teeth

[InvertPlanet]

I have let PP (Jeni) know of the problem. With luck she can make the trip or at least guide you through the procedure. It is not difficult, it just takes some practice.

[landcfan]

I am in Minnesota, so it's probably out of her range. Maybe she knows some people out here. Of course, I'd have to get the stock manager's permission to do anything.

[landcfan]

Today I tried being more aggressive with the sock manager, as I was getting nowhere. Instead of passively waiting for hours by the fish tank for him to come by, only to be told, "Not gonna listen" I went to his office. I did not think he was there, so I waited outside. I saw the light go off and he exited. I said hi, and he did not acknowledge me. Up until this point, I had tried to be fairly polite, although once previously I did rather rudely say "What?" when he was staring at me by the fish tank, as he had already told me to leave and stop obsessing earlier that day. Even today, at first I tried to be somewhat polite, and tried to phrase that contrary to his assertions, the algae had not gone from his teeth, and it has been about 4 weeks,and that this forum had said that unlike his assertion, captive puffers will not chew rocks. I probably did phrase it slightly aggressively, but that is hard to avoid when you're trying to quickly tell someone they're wrong as the walk away from you without acknowledging you at all. I stopped following when we got near the fish tank, but a bit before that, I said what I had been thinking about saying for a while, thinking that perhaps I should be aggressive, since being nice had gotten me nowhere. I said, "Do you just not care at all?" He did not acknowledge me. I sat by the fish tank for a while, and saw the puffer bite a starfish on the tip of its arm, where there is now a bare white patch that was not there a few days ago. I had seen him bite the starfish once before, but the arm was touching the surface of the water, and I thought he mistook it for food. Anyway, if he can still damage a starfish, does that mean his teeth are actually ok? If not, will giving him the proper diet prevent this? I have seen him nip at the coral, for the record. Ideally, I suppose the starfish and the puffer should be separated, but I don't have a saltwater tank, and I'm afraid if I mention it to the stock manager he'll get rid of the fish and put it in bad conditions (like a tiny tank), out of anger at me (probably won't happen, but I'm concerned. He'd probably do nothing.) Actually, I'm afraid he'll put the puffer in an unsuitable tank just so I can't see it to get me to stop bothering him. Once again, this fear is based on little, as he would probably continue to ignore me, but I'm concerned nonetheless. Anyone have any suggestions, or can answer my questions about the starfish?

[landcfan]

Also, the other day, I saw the puffer try to eat what appeared to be a tiny shrimp exoskeleton (krill?), although he never got it all the way down, and kept spitting it out, until another fish got it. I guess that's what the feed them. Is that hard enough to grind down their teeth?
Thanks everyone for your help.

[landcfan]

Also, when I looked up the Valentinni's sharpnosed puffer, it said they mostly fed on algae, but need hard foods as well. So could the algae in his teeth be not as bad of a sign as I thought?

[InvertPlanet]

puffers are predators. If there is a pod or critter in the algae it will nip at it. If it can bite the star fish that means the teeth are sharp but how big of a bite is the point. If it can't extend its jaws fully open to get an adequate foods, it will slowly starve (possibly causing it to be more aggressive).

Krill is one of the WORST foods to feed fish. No the shell is far too soft to keep the teeth in check. Bivalves, crabs and the occasional lobster treat are best. Shrimp shell is too weak.

Also be aware that puffers are nippy. Typically fish with teeth shouldn't be kept in a tank with fish without teeth ;)

Back to the krill.
If it is indeed krill please read this article:
Thiaminase

Although krill hasn't been listed (its an old article) it should be . We have several documented cases of lockjaw in puffers who were fed a staple diet of krill. If indeed it is krill it should be soaked in "vitachem" or "kent marine zoe" prior to feeding. That way the puffer will get the vitamins it needs to help prevent lockjaw.

If the curator isn't willing to do anything, you might want to take some pics and or get a petition signed.

If possible take a pic and upload it here or to photobucket so we can see what exactly is happening.

Hope that helps a bit.

[landcfan]

I'm no expert on invertebrates (guess I'm talking to the right person :) ) so I don't know what it was. I checked in the cabinet under the tank, but there was no food there, so I don't know what they're being fed. Are there other shrimp like animals that are a bit smaller than a grain of rice? Unfortunately, I can't upload any more pictures (although I've been taking tons) until Monday, since my laptop charger died, and although I paid extra for fast shipping, it doesn't matter because the school post office won't be open over the weekend. There's quite a few pictures and a video on the first page of this thread. Although I can't post it now, I just got a video today of it pulling out fecal matter from an anemone. It's done this three times in two days, but I hadn't seen it so so before. This may be why the anemone's shrinking more than usual (or I could be imagining it, although the other anemone rarely shrinks). His teeth look about the same as in those photos from a few weeks ago (maybe a bit more algae on the top.) Also, when he shrinks the skin back from around his beak, I can see a line (I assume between his teeth) that appears to have algae, too. It's hard to tell much about the teeth themselves because of all the algae. But from what I read, black saddled tobies do mostly feed on algae?

Thank you so much.

[landcfan]

Also, just as far as other creatures in the tank, Scootaloo never attacks the hermit crabs to my knowledge, and he doesn't seem to bother the chromis, which are the only fish smaller than he is (that's the three striped damsel's job. Speaking of which, that damsel and Scootaloo have had some aggressive moments, once with them spiralling around each other). There are a few anemones. Scootaloo accidentally ran mouth first into one of the tentacles and seemed pretty taken aback by it (not enough to not pull the poo out of another one, though. Will contact with the tentacles hurt him?

[landcfan]

Yes! My new charger arrived! I've attached some images, and I'll put more up.

[landcfan]

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